Beauty Franchises: Avon an Innovative Franchise

The UK Beauty Franchise industry is ever changing; its constantly looking to evolve to suit the needs of more people and to find innovative solutions to provide improved & personalised products. The Avon franchise is setting an example in the industry providing a great opportunity for franchisees, but first let’s take a look at the market.

Health, Beauty & Wellness Industry

(According to Cosmetics and Perfumery Retailers Association)

The UK cosmetics industry reached a milestone in 2015, when it overtook the famous French beauty market with a £4 billion value. The whole wellness industry is staggering in comparison, with £3.7 trillion in global value, and it covers the following sectors:

Beauty

Wellness Tourism

Healthy Eating & Weight loss

Fitness

Spa Industry

Complementary and alternative medicine.

This demonstrates how well the market is performing and, once you look at previous years of the global cosmetics manufacturing industry revenue, its apparent that this positive market outlook expands further than the UK. In the last 5 years, the industry grew on average 1.8% each year and is forecasted to grow at a faster rate in the coming years, which is a great sight for aspiring franchisees interested in the market. One of the biggest trends affecting this market is the shift from superficial products being replaced by wellness beauty products, this has seen such a large shift its one of the largest changes in the beauty market ever.

Social Media in Beauty

Social Media is a powerful tool which, when used in the right setting, can provide you with great sales opportunities. This isn’t exclusive to the brand giants utilising their substantial budgets to get products in the face of consumers, it is also something that provides amateurs with a platform to be involved and influence the industry.

It is estimated that around 70% of the global make-up brands are all owned by 10 conglomerates, this makes the beauty industry one of the most consolidated sectors and this could seemingly indicates that new starters or those with niche products can’t succeed, however, a shift is occurring in the market.

The introduction and increase of beauty vloggers has significantly influenced the UK market; an estimated 20% of customers are now purchasing beauty products as a direct results of make-up demonstrations and the advertisements of products during tutorials that are seen on video platforms, such as YouTube, Instagram and other Social Media.

With big marketing budgets in the beauty franchise industry, the main players aren’t standing idle to the social media trend; using their access to already high-profile celebrities, brands continue to collaborate with celebs and famous designers but push their presence further using Social Media. 16% of buyers say that this does influence them but, for the moment, your everyday Joe Vlogs seem to share a stronger affinity with their audience.

Personalised Beauty

Personalisation is hitting a lot of markets and the beauty franchise industry isn’t one to shy away from worldwide trends; it does require some investment in technology but the returns, more often than not, provide you with enough incentive to make this move. In 2015 alone, the global market for personalised skincare was valued at £8.1 billion; advanced technology allows companies to personalise their products, such as foundation and moisturisers, which creates the optimal shade or style to suit an individual. As with any industry, the customer is more likely to stay loyal if they feel uniquely catered to.

Avon Franchise Innovating First

The Avon franchise has been busy making sure that it remains a recognised brand, that is even though it already has 90% brand recognition in most of the major beauty markets globally.

For those that don’t know, the Avon idea is to deliver beauty products directly to your door, whether that be your home or workplace, with a franchisees model where the Avon reps receive sales-based commission. Avon began by, and is most known for, renovating the old-school tact of door-to-door selling and only recently ‘branched out’ into online sales; this direct, hands-on sales & delivery approach works well for Avon, allowing them to reach wider networks of their target market.

The Avon store is a digital tool that enables franchisees and representatives to own and run their own digital store/website for their territory, which allows them to personalise the experience to provide the best conversion rates for their specific prospective visitors. This digital platform offers aspiring franchisees an extra tool to reach its market and close more sales than it would’ve been possible without it. As online shopping has taken preference, the door sales strategy has been shunned, however, Avon are able to maintain their individualised selling approach.

Another reason the Avon franchise may be appealing is because of the initial investment requirements; the start-up cost is only £50, once you start earning. This presents franchisees a chance to try for free before committing.